This invention pertains to a necktie holder of the type suitable for securing the folds of a four-in-hand.
With the advent of the four-in-hand in the late 1800s and its subsequent acceptance as a fashionable accessory to formal dress, the problem of dealing with the hanging folds of the necktie emerged. A tie jewelry industry developed to fill this need and for years provided jeweled tie tacks, clips, clamps, bars, chains and the like, offering the wearer a means of securing his necktie folds with a decorative, visible device. These traditional tie accessories were often unsuitable for the wide neckties that became fashionable in the late 1960s. Also, an increasing number of necktie wearers found the traditional means of securing their neckties to be a distraction from the necktie itself, and in some cases, undesirable due to the damage afforded the necktie when they were employed. Eventually, the fashion industry responded by providing neckties with horizontal labels stitched on the lower rear center of the front tie fold, enabling insertion of the rear tie fold through the label to keep the folds of the necktie together. This approach, of course, did not solve the problem of keeping the tie against the shirt front where it belonged. Eventually, some hidden tie holders became available, including one by the present inventor, granted U.S. Pat. No. 3,400,434, issued Sept. 10, 1986.
Nevertheless, prior to the present invention, no single tie holding device provided for all of the following objectives.
A general object of the invention is to provide a means, not visible to the eye, to hold the folds of a four-in-hand snugly against a dress shirt. Another object of the invention is to provide a design that is inherently inexpensive to manufacture and that lends itself to mass production by currently available techniques. A further object of the invention is to provide a tie holder which is simple and easy to attach to a shirt and a four-in-hand, will remain securely in place once thus attached, and will perform its tie holding function without piercing or otherwise damaging the necktie material.
The present invention achieves the above objects as described hereinbelow.
A tie holder made in accordance with the instant invention features a unitary design which can be economically mass-produced by plastic injection molding processes. The convenient size and friction-promoting surfaces of the instant design assist the wearer in mounting the device and installing the folds of a four-in-hand thereto. By means of communicating slits designed into the structure of the instant invention, insertion of the tie holder onto a shirt button and placement of the necktie folds into desired position is facilitated. The tie holder described is designed to be completely hidden, when worn, by the folds of the four-in-hand that it is securing. Inasmuch as the folds are secured by crimping, no puncturing or other damage to the necktie will be caused by the use of a tie holder of the instant design. By means of constrictions, nubs, and notches designed into the shape and surfaces of the tie holder described herein, the likelihood of the tie holder becoming accidentally unfastened from the shirt button or the necktie is minimized. An alternative embodiment of the tie holder as part of a tie hanger assembly is also described.
Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.